The dangerous, decades-long arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War begged a fundamental question: how did these superpowers actually plan to survive a nuclear strike? In Armageddon Insurance, the first historical account of Soviet civil defense and a pioneering reappraisal of its American counterpart, Edward M. Geist compares how the two superpowers tried, and mostly failed, to reinforce their societies to withstand the ultimate catastrophe. Drawing on previously unexamined documents from archives in America, Russia, and Ukraine, Geist places these civil defense programs in their political and cultural contexts, demonstrating how each country's efforts reflected its cultural preoccupations and blind spots, and revealing how American and Soviet civil defense related to profound issues of nuclear strategy and national values. This work challenges prevailing historical assumptions and unearths the ways Moscow and Washington developed nuclear weapons policies based not on rational strategic or technical considerations, but in power struggles between different institutions pursuing their own narrow self-interests. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9781469645254 20190304

The gender-differentiated and more severe impacts of armed conflict upon women and girls are well recognised by the international community, as demonstrated by UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on Women, Peace and Security and subsequent resolutions. Similarly, the development community has identified gender-differentiated impacts upon women and girls as a result of the effects of climate change. Current research and analysis has reached no consensus as to any causal relationship between climate change and armed conflict, but certain studies suggest an indirect linkage between climate change effects such as food insecurity and armed conflict. Little research has been conducted on the possible compounding effects that armed conflict and climate change might have on at-risk population groups such as women and girls. Armed Conflict, Women and Climate Change explores the intersection of these three areas and allows the reader to better understand how military organisations across the world need to be sensitive to these relationships to be most effective in civilian-centric operations in situations of humanitarian relief, peacekeeping and even armed conflict. This book examines strategy and military doctrine from NATO, the UK, US and Australia, and explores key issues such as displacement, food and energy insecurity, and male out-migration as well as current efforts to incorporate gender considerations in military activities and operations. This innovative book will be of great interest to students and scholars of international relations, international development, international security, sustainability, gender studies and law. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9781138205321 20190311

9. The Business of Defense: The People's Liberation Army and Defense-Industrial Development in China, Kenneth Boutin.

(source: Nielsen Book Data)

This edited volume examines the recalibration of the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) roles and missions in China's domestic and foreign policymaking since Xi Jinping's ascension to power in late 2012. This book explores how China's growing military prowess, along with Beijing's ongoing shift away from "keeping a low profile, " owes much to the policies of the China's Communist Party under Xi Jinping's leadership. The chapters in the book share a central theme: the recalibration of the PLA roles and missions since Xi Jinping assumed the trifecta of party-state-military power. These contributions seek to explore in depth some of the key issues and scrutinize the enhancements in the PLA's operational capabilities, both in terms of its hardware as well as its "heartware" - the human elements of its development such as operational culture and doctrine. In all, the chapters document the transformative change the PLA has undergone since the profound realization of its previous limitations vis-a-vis the United States' advanced military operations of the previous century as well as pointing to continuity amid change. This book will be of much interest to students of strategic studies, Chinese politics, Asian security, defense studies, and international relations, in general. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9781138612129 20190225

Robert Lovett grew up in Texas, went to Yale, and earned his wings as a naval air force hero in World War I. He played a key role in the development of the Army Air Force in World War II. His emphasis on strategic bombing was instrumental in defeating Hitler's Germany. During his postwar service in the State Department, he was influential in initiating the Marshall Plan, the formation of NATO and planning the Berlin Airlift. He served as Truman's Secretary of Defense during the Korean War, was a consultant for his friend Dwight Eisenhower and served John F. Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Between tours of duty in Washington, he was an international banker on Wall Street. This first complete biography covers his life and career in detail. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9781476675497 20190225

Formed in 1916, the U.S. Army 31st Infantry Regiment-known as the Polar Bears-has fought in virtually every war in modern American history. This richly illustrated chronicle of the regiment's century of combat service covers their exploits on battlefields from Manila to Siberia-including Pork Chop Hill, Nui Chom Mountain and Iraq's Triangle of Death-along with their survival during the Bataan Death March and the years of brutal captivity that followed. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9781476669090 20180813

This book explores and analyses the evolving African security paradigm in light of the multitude of diverse threats and challenges facing the continent and the international community. It challenges current thinking and traditional security constructs as woefully inadequate to meet the real security needs of African governments and their 1 billion plus citizens in an increasingly globalised and interdependent world. Through the lens of human security the authors' examine the continent's most pressing security challenges-from identity conflict and failing states to terrorism, disease, and environmental degradation-and in doing so provide a comprehensive look at the complexities of building peace and stability in modern-day Africa. Not only does the book critically assess the state of progress in addressing security challenges, but it presents new strategies and tools for more effectively engaging Africans and the global community in their common search for solutions. -- . (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9781526122735 20180403

Since the first English settlers landed at Jamestown with the legacy of centuries of European warfare in tow, the military has been an omnipresent part of America. In The American Military: A Concise History, Joseph T. Glatthaar explores this relationship from its origins in the thirteen colonies to today's ongoing conflicts in the Middle East. Colonial Americans struggled to reconcile the rights of the citizenry to form local militias with the existence of a standing army, viewing it as a threat to civil liberty. This tension played out during the Revolution as General Washington's rag-tag band of "Continentals" was largely neglected by the public as it bravely faced the British redcoats. The Founding Fathers attempted to strike a balance, enshrining an army, navy, and a "well regulated Militia" in the Constitution. As such, the United States soon witnessed the rise of a professional military, with its commitment to selectivity and expertise, a boon to the nation's successes in the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Civil War to come. This system would give rise to great generals such as Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, both graduates of West Point, and great naval commanders such as Matthew Perry, hero of the Battle of Lake Erie. As a testament to this system, the officer corps would lead the immense armies and ships of the Union and Confederacy with skill and professionalism. However, the United States quickly dismantled the world's finest army and navy after the war-but soon learned that the purpose of a peacetime army is to prepare for war. When war did arrive, it arrived with a vengeance, gutting the trenches of the Great War with effective innovations: tanks, planes, machine guns, and poison gas. The U.S. military strategically embraced the technology that would win both world wars. From the great aircraft carriers of the Pacific, the Sherman tanks of the Allied front, to the finality of the atomic bomb, this turn to technology changed the nature of battle in the Second World War. The nuclear era brought encounters defined by stalemate-from the damaging Cold War conflicts of Korea and Vietnam, and an all-time high in hostility towards the military during Vietnam, to the current engagements in Afghanistan and Iraq. Since the events of 9/11, the United States has been frustrated by unconventional warfare, including terrorism and cyberwar, largely negating the technological advantage it has held since the Second World War. Glatthaar examines this challenge, looking to the future of the U.S. military and its often proud and complicated legacy. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9780190692810 20181203

Soldiering on the frontier: "Bring enough money to pay your own funeral expenses"

Shoulder straps and chevrons: privates, NCOs and officers

Books and baseball: soldiers' entertainments

Bacon, bread and coffee: Army rations

"The curse of the Army": alcohol and the soldier

Hard, horse-killing marches: campaigning on the frontier

Crime and punishment: "A 24-pound ball on a six-foot chain"

Patrol, pursuit and skirmish: the nature of combat in the Indian Wars

The desertion problem: "Giving the Army the grand bounce"

The color line: the Army and race

"Mr. Lo": the soldier and the Indian

Politics and a massacre: the Army's quest for control of the Indian Bureau

"A damned big fight": the 7th Cavalry at the Little Big Horn

The end of an era: the Pine Ridge Campaign and Wounded Knee

The War with Spain: a different Army for a different war

Waiting in the wings: the Spanish-American War in the training camps

Scandal and reform: the aftermath of the Spanish-American War

"A diabolical threat": the anti-canteen campaign

Soldiers of empire: the Army in the Philippines

The War in the Philippines: "Battles we never enlisted for..."

Into Mexico: the

1916 Punitive Expedition

Conclusion: The gathering storm

Appendix: Major campaigns and combat engagements of the Indian Wars, 1866-1890.

In the years following the Civil War, the U.S. Army underwent a long period of professional decline on the widening American frontier. Through the decades of the Indian Wars, American soldiers served out their enlistments in desert stations, prairie forts, mountain posts, and nameless places from Florida to Alaska. It was a hard life, where harsh weather, bad food, wretched living conditions, and long stretches of boredom were adversaries every bit as tough as Indian raiders. Desertion and alcoholism plagued the army, yet every year more men enlisted to take their chances as soldiers in blue for $13 a month in pay. Drawing on a wealth of soldiers' narratives and personal letters augmented with official records and contemporary sources, John Haymond examines what life was like for the ordinary American soldier during the years when the U.S. Army experienced some of its toughest challenges while also undergoing the greatest transformation in its history. Covering the Reconstruction Era, the Indian Wars, the Spanish-American War, the Philippine-American War, and the Punitive Expedition into Mexico, this is the common soldier's view of how the U.S. Army changed from a neglected frontier constabulary into an internationally-deployed force of empire. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9781476667256 20180508

The Arctic is heating up. While China, the US and Russia rapidly boost their presence - mobilizing submarines and icebreakers - the ice at the North Pole continues to recede, creating new trade routes and golden opportunities for mining, fishing, oil and gas, but also new potential for international strife. For the first time in human history an entire ocean is opening up for new traffic. A dramatic struggle to maintain peace in the midst of a quest for power and resources is speedily unfolding - all against the most ominous backdrop of all: fast-accelerating climate change. Temperatures are rising twice as fast in the Arctic as in the rest of the world. In 2014 things took a strange turn. The Kingdom of Denmark, through its continued hold on Greenland, claimed a colossal piece of the Arctic seabed, including the North Pole, all the way to Russian waters. This followed a phenomenal stunt in which two Russian submarines planted the Russian flag at the deep bottom of the ice-covered ocean, precisely at the North Pole. In 2015, Russia formally claimed its massive piece of the seabed and the two claims now overlap extensively - and soon Canada will add its demands. As the great powers increase their Arctic military capacities, tortuous endeavours to reach a diplomatic solution to the dispute are underway. Investigative journalist Martin Breum has been on the Arctic front line for a decade, and brings this compelling story to life. He travels by ice-breaker with the researchers who try to prove ownership of the North Pole. He uncovers the stories of the 57,000 Inuit of Greenland who are fighting to mould their own place in this Arctic dynamic - between the greatest powers of the world. Thrillingly written, Cold Rush takes you straight to the modern Arctic - a region in which the future of our planet is being decided. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9781788312424 20190121

An in-depth, finely detailed portrait of the German Army from its greatest victory in 1871 to its final collapse in 1918, this volume offers the most comprehensive account ever given of one of the critical pillars of the German Empire-and a chief architect of the military and political realities of late nineteenth-century Europe. Written by two of the world's leading authorities on the subject, Imperial Germany and War, 1871-1918 examines the most essential components of the imperial German military system, with an emphasis on such foundational areas as theory, doctrine, institutional structures, training, and the officer corps. In the period between 1871 and 1918, rapid technological development demanded considerable adaptation and change in military doctrine and planning. Consequently, the authors focus on theory and practice leading up to World War I and upon the variety of adaptations that became necessary as the war progressed-with unique insights into military theorists from Clausewitz to Moltke the Elder, Moltke the Younger, Schlichting, and Schlieffen. Ranging over the entire history of the German Empire, Imperial Germany and War, 1871-1918 presents a picture of unprecedented scope and depth of one of the most widely studied, criticized, and imitated organizations in the modern world. The book will prove indispensable to an understanding of the Imperial German Army. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9780700626007 20180806

Part Three: Israel's strategic response. The classic military response in perspective ; The military response today ; Nuclear and regional arms control policy ; The foreign policy response ; The "special relationship"

Part Four: A national security strategy for an era of change. Primary conclusions ; Policy recommendations.

National security has been at the forefront of the Israeli experience for seven decades, with threats ranging from terrorism, to vast rocket and missile arsenals, and even existential nuclear dangers. Yet, despite its overwhelming preoccupation with foreign and defense affairs, Israel does not have a formal national security strategy. In Israeli National Security, Chuck Freilich presents an authoritative analysis of the military, diplomatic, demographic, and societal challenges Israel faces today, to propose a comprehensive and long-term Israeli national security strategy. The heart of the new strategy places greater emphasis on restraint, defense, and diplomacy as means of addressing the challenges Israel faces, along with the military capacity to deter and, if necessary, defeat Israel's adversaries, while also maintaining the resolve of its society. By bringing Israel's most critical debates about the Palestinians, demography, Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, US relations and nuclear strategy into sharp focus, the strategy Freilich proposes addresses the primary challenges Israel must address in order to chart its national course. The most comprehensive study of Israel's national security to date, this book presents the first public proposal for a comprehensive Israeli national security strategy and prescribes an actionable course forward. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9780190602932 20181119

Chapter 2: Deterrence, Guerrilla Warfare, and the Establishment of the "Rules of the Game" (1993-99)

Chapter 3: A Change in the Strategic Equation: The IDF Withdrawal from Lebanon (2000)

Chapter 4: The Erosion of Deterrence, the

2006 War, and the Dahiya Doctrine (2000-17)Conclusion to Part I Part II: Operational AdaptationIntroduction to Part II

Chapter 5: The Origins of the RMA in Israel

Chapter 6: The RMA in Action: IDF Operations in Lebanon and Hezbollah's Adaptation in the 1990s

Chapter 7: The Rise of the IDF's Operational Theory Research Institute and Systemic Operational Design

Chapter 8: The

2006 Lebanon War: Military Adaptation and Counteradaptation

Chapter 9: The Blame Game: A Reappraisal of the IDF's

2006 Operational ConceptConclusion to Part II ConclusionsAfterword: Back to the Future: IDF Force Planning and Hezbollah's Military Adaptation in Syria ChronologySelected BibliographyIndexAbout the Author.

(source: Nielsen Book Data)

The ongoing conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah is now in its fourth decade and shows no signs of ending. Raphael D. Marcus examines this conflict since the formation of Hezbollah during Israel's occupation of Lebanon in the early 1980s. He critically evaluates events including Israel's long counterguerrilla campaign throughout the 1990s, the Israeli withdrawal in 2000, the 2006 summer war, and concludes with an assessment of current tensions on the border between Israel and Lebanon related to the Syrian civil war. Israel's Long War with Hezbollah is both the first complete military history of this decades-long conflict and an analysis of military innovation and adaptation. The book is based on unique fieldwork in Israel and Lebanon, extensive research into Hebrew and Arabic primary sources, and dozens of interviews Marcus conducted with Israeli defense officials, high-ranking military officers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), United Nations personnel, a Hezbollah official, and Western diplomats. As an expert on organizational learning, Marcus analyzes ongoing processes of strategic and operational innovation and adaptation by both the IDF and Hezbollah throughout the long guerrilla conflict. His conclusions illuminate the dynamics of the ongoing conflict and illustrate the complexity of military adaptation under fire. With Hezbollah playing an ongoing role in the civil war in Syria and the simmering hostilities on the Israel-Lebanon border, students, scholars, diplomats, and military practitioners with an interest in Middle Eastern security issues, Israeli military history, and military innovation and adaptation can ill afford to neglect this book. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9781626166103 20180924